Trash bags such as plastic garbage bags have become extremely popular for the retention and disposal of garbage from the kitchen, workshop, yard or otherwise. However, since these bags are constructed of a thin plastic film, they are not capable of self-support and must therefore be held open and supported by hand when refuse is being disposed of therein or provided with some sort of container to hold the bag.
Conventionally the bag is inserted within a container such as a plastic or metal pail sized appropriately to contain the bag and its contents when full. The top of the bag is usually folded over the upper edge of the container to maintain the bag in its position and after the bag is full of trash or refuse the bag and its contents must be removed from the container. Often this proves difficult since the bag and its contents have settled into contact with the container thereby hampering removal of the bag from the container. Furthermore, if sharp objects were disposed of, the bag itself might have become torn on its sides thereby permitting the exit of refuse or trash from the bag after removal from the container.
Canadian Letters Pat. No. 986,896 which issued to Jerpbak on Apr. 6, 1976, discloses a device and method for facilitating the filling of a flexible trash bag. An elongate sheet of slippery material, such as plastic, is provided with two cooperating sets of securing apertures. The sheet is formed into a cylindrical open ended body and secured in that shape by means of fastener elements passed through the apertures in the sheet. At at least one end of the sheet there are several columns of apertures so that the sheet may be formed into a number of sizes for various sizes of bags. The sheet, after having been rolled into a cylindrical shape of a desired circumference is secured by means of the fasteners and apertures and inserted within a trash bag. The cylindrical shape is intended to be slid up in the bag as the bag is filled and to be removed from the bag before the bag and its contents are sealed in readiness for disposal.
It will be appreciated that since trash bags come in many different sizes it is necessary to adjust and secure the Jerpack arrangement prior to insertion within the bag. In practice the circumference of the cylindrically shaped body would have to be somewhat less than the circumference of the trash bag to allow insertion therein.
The insert of this invention for holding open and supporting in a generally upright position a trash bag not capable of self-support comprises a generally rectangular member which is rollable on itself. The member has resiliency characteristics such that the member tends to unroll when rolled upon itself. The member is sized such that when it is rolled upon itself and inserted within a trash bag the member unrolls until restrained by the bag and thus the bag is held open and supported in a generally upright position.
The insert of this invention does not require the securing of the sheet by means of fasteners and apertures to form a cylindrical shape of fixed circumference. Rather the rectangular member is simply rolled upon itself and inserted within the bag. Since the member has resiliency characteristics such that it tends to unroll the member will unroll within the bag until it is restrained by the bag thereby completely opening the bag and allowing 100% utilization of the bag. The insert of this invention is obviously simpler to use since there is no need to determine what circumference the bag has and form the member into a fixed cylindrical shape by means of apertures and fasteners before insertion within the bag.
According to an aspect of the invention the insert may be a sheet of relatively inexpensive cardboard having a thickness of approximately one millimeter. The cardboard insert may be disposed of along with the bag due to its low cost and if this is done there is no need to be concerned with removing the insert from the trash bag prior to sealing up the bag in readiness for disposal.